We are a partnership of local organisations who have years of experience working with families and young children. Most importantly, we’re working with local parents and carers to find out what needs to change if we are going to give Southend’s children the best start they can have.

This year we are focusing on how to give children a healthy start in life so that they get ill less often and there’s less risk of them having weight problems when they’re older. We want to help mums stay healthy while they’re pregnant, and find ways for young children to enjoy a balanced diet; because the benefits of a getting good start stay with a child for a lifetime.

How do we work?

Parents and carers are involved every step of the way: raising the problems that need solving, coming up with some answers, and helping us test good ideas. You can find out more about how we want to work here.

We want Southend to be known as the best place in this country to bring up a child and be a parent, to create a community that welcomes every baby and ensures they have the best deal possible. We are doing this through, major system change and delivery of science and evidence-based interventions, transforming maternity care, parental support, and ultimately children’s and families’ lives, with higher aspirations, better education and greater employment chances.

If we’re going to create a change that lasts long after A Better Start is over, we need to learn from everything we do. That’s why every project we support starts out small and is tested, improved and tested again until we’re sure it works for our local community. To achieve this we are running a range of free projects and activities for parents and children under 4 for families in six local wards – Kursaal, Milton, Shoeburyness, Victoria, Westborough and West Shoebury. Eventually, the things we learn here will be shared across the whole of Southend.

Get involved with A Better Start Southend

We need everyone in Southend to get involved if we are going to succeed. We want as many people as possible to share ideas to improve services for Southend’s young children and families.

Sign up to find out more and give us your thoughts on what local families need, and how we can help make sure they get it.